{"id":5557,"date":"2012-09-25T10:02:09","date_gmt":"2012-09-25T17:02:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/breyeschow\/?p=5557"},"modified":"2012-09-25T10:14:54","modified_gmt":"2012-09-25T17:14:54","slug":"darwin-jesus-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/breyeschow\/2012\/09\/25\/darwin-jesus-america\/","title":{"rendered":"Darwin, Jesus and Christians in the United States"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Image from zaldyortega.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

It seems as if many people in the United States have fallen in love with Darwin and his \u201csurvival of the fittest\u201d evolutionary discoveries. Now I am not talking about the debates between creationism and evolution \u2013 I am one of those who\u00a0believes\u00a0that the two are not mutually exclusive<\/em> \u2013 but how this idea seems to have infiltrated American politics and culture when it comes to how we treat the poor and struggling in our society.<\/p>\n

For some reason, extreme wealth, power and\u00a0privilege has become the norm to which we should all aspire and if you are on the other side of the equation, you are\u00a0blatantly\u00a0ignored, at best, and\u00a0publicly\u00a0castigated, at worst. With the ways in which our congress spends money on our military, the idea that some\u00a0institutions\u00a0are too big to die,\u00a0assumptions\u00a0about people\u2019s motivations in life and and the ways in which money influences our politics, Darwin would be proud of the United States of America.<\/p>\n

When I am my least hopeful self, I look at the world and the country of my birth and it seems as if he was right, the strongest: militarily, economically and politically will survive . . . and those who are weaker will slowly, painfully, invisibly go\u00a0extinct.\u00a0But then I remember that this is not the lens through which Jesus would have view the world and live our lives, in fact, I\u00a0believe\u00a0that he has something to say to Mr. Darwin and those Christians who ascribe to his evolutionary\u00a0mentality\u00a0when it comes to life in the United States and around the world.<\/p>\n

Only the strong will survive . . .<\/strong> the more you have: strength, wealth and power the better off you will be.<\/p>\n

Jesus might respond with\u00a0<\/a>Luke 16-21<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

16\u00a0<\/sup>And he told them this parable:\u00a0\u201cThe ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest.\u00a017\u00a0<\/sup>He thought to himself, \u2018What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.\u2019
\n18\u00a0<\/sup>\u201cThen he said, \u2018This is what I\u2019ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain.\u00a019\u00a0<\/sup>And I\u2019ll say to myself, \u201cYou have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.\u201d\u2019
\n20\u00a0<\/sup>\u201cBut God said to him, \u2018You fool!\u00a0This very night your life will be demanded from you.\u00a0Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?\u2019
\n21\u00a0<\/sup>\u201cThis is how it will be with those who store up things for themselves but are not rich toward God.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Not only do we Americans hate\u00a0to be perceived as unsuccessful<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0to have less than our neighbor, our thirst for unlimited wealth, power and resources has become an idol that is only widening the socioeconomic chasms between the rich and poor. Our need to feel superior to\u00a0the other,\u00a0accumulate\u00a0wealth\u00a0and\u00a0exercise\u00a0power creates a context in which we will do anything we can \u2013 vote, work, act<\/em> \u2013 in order to reinforce those things that maintain divisions that most benefit the building up of our own kingdoms.<\/p>\n

The weak deserve to go extinct . . .<\/strong>\u00a0it\u2019s their own fault, we do not need to help them, they deserve what they get.<\/p>\n

Jesus might respond with\u00a0Matthew 25:37-40<\/strong><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

37\u00a0<\/sup>\u201cThen the righteous will answer him, \u2018Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?\u00a038\u00a0<\/sup>When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?\u00a039\u00a0<\/sup>When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?\u2019<\/p>\n

40\u00a0<\/sup>\u201cThe King will reply, \u2018Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Contrary to what many Americans\u00a0believe, the quote, \u201cGod helps those who help themselves<\/a>\u201c<\/em>\u00a0is not a passage from the Bible. The idea that all anyone has to do in order to succeed and\u00a0achieve\u00a0the \u201cAmerican Dream\u201d is to work hard\u00a0is a fallacy that ignores generation after generation who have both helped people succeed, as well as have been unjustly hindered in their struggle\u00a0to achieve. Born out of this\u00a0belief\u00a0is an American\u00a0individualism that manifests itself in a short-sighted \u201cevery man for himself\u201d\u00a0attitude\u00a0that\u00a0dishonors those who have come before and constrains those who will follow. We not only perpetuate this cycle, but we institutionalize\u00a0the barriers by the ways in which we disproportionally\u00a0incarcerate our citizens, care for senior citizens\u00a0through\u00a0the end of their lives and fail to educate all children across our socioeconomic\u00a0spectrum.<\/p>\n

Self-preservation is the\u00a0ultimate\u00a0success\u00a0<\/strong>. . . death is bad and our ultimate goal should be survival.<\/p>\n

Jesus might respond with\u00a0Mark 8:31-33<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\n

31\u00a0<\/sup>He then began to teach them that the Son of Man\u00a0must suffer many things\u00a0and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law,\u00a0and that he must be killed\u00a0and after three days\u00a0rise again.\u00a032\u00a0<\/sup>He spoke plainly\u00a0about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.<\/p>\n

33\u00a0<\/sup>But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter.\u00a0\u201cGet behind me, Satan!\u201d\u00a0he said.\u201cYou do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

Of\u00a0course\u00a0it is one thing to talk about our own physical death and our natural inclination to survive, but quite another when we\u00a0think\u00a0about the death of\u00a0institutions,\u00a0systems\u00a0or status. The idea that some things are \u201ctoo big to die\u201d is not just about bailouts and\u00a0economic\u00a0recovery, but a mindset that perpetuates unhealthy systems throughout our society. As Christians, death plays an important role in how we experience new life and hope. I fear that, as a people who\u00a0believe\u00a0in resurrection, our constant stream of energy directed at keeping withering institutions \u2013\u00a0ecclesiastical\u00a0and governmental<\/em> \u2013 alive might do more damage than healing and\u00a0ultimately be an obstacle to experiencing who God intends for us to become.<\/p>\n

There are many things about Mr. Darwin\u2019s legacy and contribution to science that I very much appreciate, but when absorbed into the fabric of our culture and society in unhealthy ways, not so much. And while it is hard to be\u00a0hopeful\u00a0when it does seems as tho the biggest sticks and the fattest wallets are going to win out again in church,\u00a0politics\u00a0and life I lean on some very wise words from\u00a0Dr.\u00a0Stephen Ray<\/a> when he said, \u201cYou either trust God, or you don\u2019t.\u201d It is through this lens of trusting that the goodness of God is somehow woven into all things that I live and, yes, survive, in the world today.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It seems as if many people in the United States have fallen in love with Darwin and his \u201csurvival of the fittest\u201d evolutionary discoveries. Now I am not talking about the debates between creationism and evolution \u2013 I am one of those who\u00a0believes\u00a0that the two are not mutually exclusive \u2013 but how this idea seems […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":110,"featured_media":5558,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[244,17],"tags":[17372,17373,16552,17378,17376,17377,16667,17374,17375,17371],"class_list":["post-5557","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture-politics","category-faith-religion","tag-charles-darwin","tag-evolution","tag-jesus","tag-luke-16-21","tag-mark-831-33","tag-matthew-2537-40","tag-politics","tag-poor","tag-poverty-wealth","tag-stephen-ray"],"yoast_head":"\nDarwin, Jesus and Christians in the United States<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It seems as if many people in the United States have fallen in love with Darwin and his "survival of the fittest" evolutionary discoveries. Now I am not\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/breyeschow\/2012\/09\/25\/darwin-jesus-america\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Darwin, Jesus and Christians in the United States\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It seems as if many people in the United States have fallen in love with Darwin and his "survival of the fittest" evolutionary discoveries. Now I am not\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/breyeschow\/2012\/09\/25\/darwin-jesus-america\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Bruce Reyes-Chow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-09-25T17:02:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-09-25T17:14:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/30\/2012\/09\/Darwin-and-Jesus.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"300\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"292\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Bruce Reyes-Chow\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Bruce Reyes-Chow\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/breyeschow\/2012\/09\/25\/darwin-jesus-america\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/breyeschow\/2012\/09\/25\/darwin-jesus-america\/\",\"name\":\"Darwin, Jesus and Christians in the United States\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/breyeschow\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-09-25T17:02:09+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-09-25T17:14:54+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/breyeschow\/#\/schema\/person\/15f13a7efc1825e3f6d7d820828f98a8\"},\"description\":\"It seems as if many people in the United States have fallen in love with Darwin and his \\\"survival of the fittest\\\" evolutionary discoveries. Now I am not\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/breyeschow\/2012\/09\/25\/darwin-jesus-america\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/breyeschow\/2012\/09\/25\/darwin-jesus-america\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/breyeschow\/2012\/09\/25\/darwin-jesus-america\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/breyeschow\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Darwin, Jesus and Christians in the United States\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/breyeschow\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/breyeschow\/\",\"name\":\"Bruce Reyes-Chow\",\"description\":\"Observing Life, Engaging Faith and Making Connections\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/breyeschow\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/breyeschow\/#\/schema\/person\/15f13a7efc1825e3f6d7d820828f98a8\",\"name\":\"Bruce Reyes-Chow\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/breyeschow\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a5c0417d041b545627527736abdda1e6?s=96&d=wavatar&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a5c0417d041b545627527736abdda1e6?s=96&d=wavatar&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Bruce Reyes-Chow\"},\"description\":\"WARNING: I blog about pretty much anything: I have been known to rant about politics, opine about social media, muse about Jesus and overshare about my love of all things 80's, so please don't say you were not warned. All ideations contained in this are mine and mine alone. In no way do I represent the opinions of Patheos, my church, my family or my good friend Rufus, the 13th disciple.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/breyeschow\/author\/breyeschow\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Darwin, Jesus and Christians in the United States","description":"It seems as if many people in the United States have fallen in love with Darwin and his \"survival of the fittest\" evolutionary discoveries. Now I am not","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/breyeschow\/2012\/09\/25\/darwin-jesus-america\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Darwin, Jesus and Christians in the United States","og_description":"It seems as if many people in the United States have fallen in love with Darwin and his \"survival of the fittest\" evolutionary discoveries. Now I am not","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/breyeschow\/2012\/09\/25\/darwin-jesus-america\/","og_site_name":"Bruce Reyes-Chow","article_published_time":"2012-09-25T17:02:09+00:00","article_modified_time":"2012-09-25T17:14:54+00:00","og_image":[{"width":"300","height":"292","url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/30\/2012\/09\/Darwin-and-Jesus.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Bruce Reyes-Chow","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Bruce Reyes-Chow","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/breyeschow\/2012\/09\/25\/darwin-jesus-america\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/breyeschow\/2012\/09\/25\/darwin-jesus-america\/","name":"Darwin, Jesus and Christians in the United States","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/breyeschow\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-09-25T17:02:09+00:00","dateModified":"2012-09-25T17:14:54+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/breyeschow\/#\/schema\/person\/15f13a7efc1825e3f6d7d820828f98a8"},"description":"It seems as if many people in the United States have fallen in love with Darwin and his \"survival of the fittest\" evolutionary discoveries. Now I am not","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/breyeschow\/2012\/09\/25\/darwin-jesus-america\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/breyeschow\/2012\/09\/25\/darwin-jesus-america\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/breyeschow\/2012\/09\/25\/darwin-jesus-america\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/breyeschow\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Darwin, Jesus and Christians in the United States"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/breyeschow\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/breyeschow\/","name":"Bruce Reyes-Chow","description":"Observing Life, Engaging Faith and Making Connections","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/breyeschow\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/breyeschow\/#\/schema\/person\/15f13a7efc1825e3f6d7d820828f98a8","name":"Bruce Reyes-Chow","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/breyeschow\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a5c0417d041b545627527736abdda1e6?s=96&d=wavatar&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a5c0417d041b545627527736abdda1e6?s=96&d=wavatar&r=g","caption":"Bruce Reyes-Chow"},"description":"WARNING: I blog about pretty much anything: I have been known to rant about politics, opine about social media, muse about Jesus and overshare about my love of all things 80's, so please don't say you were not warned. All ideations contained in this are mine and mine alone. In no way do I represent the opinions of Patheos, my church, my family or my good friend Rufus, the 13th disciple.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/breyeschow\/author\/breyeschow\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/breyeschow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5557","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/breyeschow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/breyeschow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/breyeschow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/110"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/breyeschow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5557"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/breyeschow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5557\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/breyeschow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5558"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/breyeschow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5557"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/breyeschow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5557"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/breyeschow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5557"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}